Dual Vision House

– Betty’s Bay, Western Cape –

This house works around the idea of the ‘picture window’, primed to the primacy of the view. Instead of the usual singular focus of a picture window, this frame works both ways. Placed back to back around an architectural interior, this ‘picture window’ treats both mountain and sea with equal primacy. It is the result of opposing effects.

From the inside, the chamfered picture-frame edges wedge the views open like a wide-angle lens. Orientated between the equally vicious north west and south east winds, one side of the frame is always openable. Sun comes from the north – seen from the southern seaside, the building is internally lit – it glows, uncannily, during the daytime.